Pew: Facebook remains by far the most popular social media site

In a new study released by the Pew Research Internet Project, their research details findings on social media usage among 81% of American adults who use the internet. In addition, other platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn saw significant increases over the past year in the proportion of online adults who now use their sites.

Facebook is the “home base” for social media users. Another important metric of the report focus on the fact that most adult Americans use more than one social network.

52% of online adults use multiple social media sites. Facebook acts as “home base” — it remains the most popular site for those who only use one, and has significant overlap with other platforms.

The report also finds that while Facebook saw little fluctuations in overall usage its large base of users continues to be very active. Nearly 70% of users engage with the site daily (and 45% do so several times a day), a significant increase from the 63% who did so in 2013.

Our Take on the Pew Report:

While social media provides marketers with a very targeted avenue for reaching specific demographics, as a marketing medium, still remains relatively niche. In reviewing overall social media usage versus other mainstream mediums such as search, email, radio and broadcast television, a large scale branding campaign should consider social media as part of a branding campaign rather than a sole strategy.

For small businesses, social media continues to reach more users, frequently and provide a cost effective ways to build marketing engagement among many different demographics and geographic areas.